The Rest of the World

'Horses’ welfare at risk' - TBA fires back at regulator over foal declarations Thoroughbred Breeders Australia has again urged Racing Australia to reconsider its hardline stance over the policing of the mandatory lodgement of foal ownership declarations (FOD). In the latest back-and-forth between the peak breeders organisation and Racing Australia, TBA president Basil Nolan called for a “collaborative approach” when it came to enforcing the rules of racing concerning the lodgment of foal declarations and mare returns. The growing tensions between RA and TBA regarding FODs was first reported by The Straight in May where it was found that, if the harsher focus on compliance was taken last year, one in six foals could have been ruled ineligible to race. “We are united in our desire to see improved traceability amidst our industry’s substantive efforts to advance equine welfare outcomes, however this aggressive approach taken by Racing Australia is an unfair and punitive attack on those people who are at the coalface of protecting our horses’ wellbeing: the breeders,” Nolan said in a TBA statement released on Tuesday. “Breeders have expressed frustration with the current system for lodging mare returns and foal ownership details, describing it as outdated and cumbersome, which not only slows the process but also impacts the time required to complete these returns.” Nolan called on Racing Australia to improve its systems to lodge foal declarations and mare returns. “Rather than introducing harsh penalties that could cripple participants’ livelihoods and put their horses’ welfare at risk, we implore Racing Australia to direct their energies to improving their systems and making the registration of mares and foals a much easier and more efficient online process,” he said. “Like our fellow industry stakeholders, TBA wants to see all horses traceable from birth through to leaving the thoroughbred system, and we believe the way to achieve this is to make the process as simple as possible for our breeders.”

LEXINGTON, KY – The day, which began at Newtown Paddocks Tuesday with a steady renewal of the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale, ended with a record-blasting edition of the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale and it was the very last horse through the ring who made the loudest noise when stakes-winning 2-year-old Romeo (Honor A. P.) sold for $1.7 million to the bid of Mahmud Mouni. The Horses of Racing Age catalogue, down to 70 entries from 123 a year ago, may have been small, but it was definitely mighty as decreased supply ran headlong into increased demand. With all but three offered horses failing to meet their reserves, 51 horses sold for $8,037,000 for a sales record average of $157,588 and record median of $95,000. The average was up 52.7% and the median rose 53.2% from 2024 figures. “I am not going to say we knew it was going to be this strong, but we knew it was going to be strong,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “And the reason we knew it was going to be strong is because we really, really tried to recruit some top-quality horses over the last 60 days. It is very hard to get a man or woman with a live racehorse to sell that racehorse, because they are hard to get and people enjoy having them. There is a scarcity of supply and the demand is off the charts.” The auction produced a seven-figure topper for the second year in a row when Mouni paid a sale record $1.7 million for Bashford Manor Stakes winner Romeo from the Paramount Sales consignment. The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearling Sale, meanwhile, produced results largely in line with its 2024 renewal. A total of 156 head grossed $16,828,000 for an average of $107,872 and a median of $90,000. The average dipped slightly from 2024 when 154 horses sold for $17,319,000 for an average of $112,461, while the median was unchanged. With 61 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 28.1%, down from 33.3% a year ago. “It was a solid start to the yearling sales season,” Browning said. “The numbers are virtually identical to last year, despite a few less horses. The average is virtually the same, the median is the same, and the RNA rate is a little bit better than it was last year. I think, as we expected, it was a very similar marketplace to last year. Trade was solid. There was no craziness that took place in this sale. But that's not what this sale is intended to do. It doesn't have the pedigrees that allow you to have breakout activity in the yearling sale. But if you brought a well-conformed horse here that was athletic, mature and vetted well, you were rewarded. So it was a very, very good start. It should provide a level of confidence to everybody as we move onto the next stage.” A colt from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner Jack Christopher was the day's top-priced yearling, selling for $350,000 to CHC, Inc. and Maverick Racing. The yearling was consigned by Buckland Sales. $1.7-Million Romeo Ends Horses of Racing Age Sale with a Bang Mahmud Mouni, active last fall and all spring buying for the Libyan partnership Tagermeen Racing, went to a sales record $1.7 million to acquire stakes-winning juvenile Romeo (Honor A. P.) (hip 370) as the very last horse through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale Tuesday. He was consigned by Paramount Sales. “We are planning to send the horse to Steve Asmussen,” Mouni said after letting his son do much of the bidding in the back ring. “We would like to have a chance with the next few races and to the Breeders' Cup this year. But our main plan is for Saudi Arabia next year and maybe the Derby in Dubai. This is too many plans. I will ask the trainer what is best. But the main issue is to go to the Middle East for 2026.” Of the colt's final price, Mouni said, “I was shocked. We were expecting $750,000 to $1 million.” Romeo, who RNA'd for $14,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale, made three starts for owner Joseph Lloyd and trainer John Robb. After romping in his May 3 debut at Laurel, he finished third in the June 5 Tremont Stakes and scored a front-running 3 3/4-length victory while setting a new stakes record in the June 29 Bashford Manor Stakes last time out. Team Paramount and Team Mouni celebrate at Fasig-Tipton | Fasig-Tipton The colt's engagement in the Fasig-Tipton sale came about thanks to Paramount's Paddy Campion, who found Lloyd via social media. “I got in touch with the owner on Facebook and we arranged a call,” Campion said. “I thought it would be a good idea to put him in this sale just coming off that win. He agreed that it was a good idea, so we started talking. The snowball started rolling. Fasig played a huge roll in trying to organize everything and make everything go smoothly.” It wasn't until Sunday that Campion saw the horse in person. “I kind of a breathed a sigh of relief when I saw him off the van because he's beautiful also,” he said. “Then I realized he was the whole package. And then I saw all the big people coming to inspect him and I could tell they thought the same thing. I think he's the real deal. He was so calm and collected the whole time.” Of Lloyd, Campion said, “He is a smaller-time guy. He lives in Baltimore and has four kids. He had a nice filly in the past, but this is a huge result.” Asked about the owner's reaction to the $1.7-million result, Campion said, “I have been back and forth on text. I actually have to call him.” Campion added with a smile, “And I need to add him as a friend on Facebook now.” Red Route One Off to Stud, Destination Undecided Emmanuel de Seroux went to $550,000 to acquire multiple graded winner Red Route One (Gun Runner) (hip 329) and the bloodstock agent said the 5-year-old's racing career is over. Red Route One in the ring Tuesday | Fasig-Tipton “We bought him for stud duties,” de Seroux said. “We don't know where yet. We have many options. We have to sit down and decide where he is going to go.” Bred and raced by Winchell Thoroughbreds and trained by Steve Asmussen, Red Route One won the GIII Essex Handicap in March, as well as the 2024 GII New Orleans Classic and GIII Prairie Meadows Cornhusker and the 2023 GIII West Virginia Derby. On the board in 13 of 28 starts, he won six times and earned $2,165,107. Red Route One, who was consigned Tuesday by Taylor Made Sales Agency, is out of the unraced Red House (Tapit), who is a full-sister to champion Untapable. “He's by Gun Runner out of a Tapit mare,” de Seroux said of Red Route One's stallion appeal. “He made $2 million like the auctioneer reminded us. And he's a beautiful horse. He has quite a lot of attributes to be a successful stallion, I think.” Of the chestnut's final price tag, de Seroux added, “You always hope to get them for less, but a horse like this, obviously quite a few people wanted him.” Just a few hips later, de Seroux was back in action to acquire Rosie Jeeks (World of Trouble) (hip 332) for $300,000. Consigned by Elite, agent, the 4-year-old filly is coming off a win in the Goldwood Stakes sprinting over the lawn at Monmouth Park June 21 for Team Hanley and Thirty Year Farm and trainer Chad Brown. “She is going to run in Del Mar hopefully,” de Seroux said. Jack Christopher Colt Tops in July The first yearlings by multiple Grade I winner Jack Christopher (Munnings) were well-received during the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearling Sale Tuesday in Lexington, with a colt by the Coolmore stallion (hip 35) attracting the auction's top price when selling for $350,000 to China Horse Club and WinStar's Maverick Racing. The chestnut was bred by Susan King and was consigned by Zach Madden's Buckland Sales. He is out of Above the Crowd (Discreetly Mine). “He was our favorite horse of the sale,” said WinStar's Elliott Walden. “We stretched a bit for him, but he was a beautiful colt.” Hip 35, a colt by Jack Christopher | Fasig-Tipton The China Horse Club/Maverick Racing partnership came back later in the showcase to purchase another colt by Jack Christopher (hip 87) for $110,000. That chestnut, a $50,000 Keeneland January yearling, was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, as agent for Love's Equine Stables. “We just thought they were both athletic,” Walden said of the pair. Jack Christopher, who RNA'd for $145,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton July Freshman Sire Showcase before selling for $135,000 at the Fasig-Tipton October sale, won the 2021 GI Champagne Stakes at two and returned at three to win the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial and GI Woody Stephens Stakes. Trainer Ken McPeek purchased the auction's second-highest priced yearling by the sire, going to $270,000 for a yearling from the Lane's End consignment, while Flying Dutchman paid $200,000 for a colt from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment. In all, the stallion, who stood the 2025 season for $25,000, had nine yearlings sell Tuesday for an average of $162,778. The results made sense to Coolmore's Adrian Wallace. “He was a highly accomplished racehorse himself, a three-time Grade I winner,” Wallace said of Jack Christopher. “He always showed an awful lot of speed in his career. He was a precocious 2-year-old himself. And he's by Munnings, who gets fast, early, precocious horses. So you'd imagine Jack Christopher is a carbon copy of that. He was a better racehorse than Munnings was and he was very well-supported by breeders in his first couple years at stud.” Wallace continued, “The first crop look the part. The first one through the ring from Buckland Sales, bred by Susan King, to bring $350,000 and to go to China Horse Club and Maverick is a great indication of that. The future looks exceptionally bright for him and hopefully he will keep on going. It's obviously early days, but you'd have to be very enthused by the way they look.” Of the similarities he sees in the stallion's yearlings, Wallace said, “They are stamped very much, you can almost pick them out of a crowd. They are very similar. They are generally chestnuts with big white blazes, athletic fast-looking horses with plenty of strength with good hip and shoulders. They look like him. And if he can get some like himself, he will be off to a great start.” 'We Loved Her': Epicenter Filly a Score for Beamish As Stephanie Beamish and Keiber Rengifo accepted congratulations out back, Beamish admitted the $185,000 she and her partners had just sold an Epicenter filly (hip 61) for was among her best results in three decades of pinhooking. “We were really looking for $100,000, so we are very pleased with where she ended up,” Beamish said. “This is one of the better ones that I've had.” The bay filly, who was purchased Tuesday by Winchell Thoroughbreds, which campaigned her champion first-crop sire, was acquired by Beamish, Rengifo and Mike Rose for $43,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale. She was consigned to the Fasig-Tipton sale Tuesday by Four Star Sales. “Her conformation. She just had a very, very balanced body with a nice neck,” Beamish said of the filly's appeal last fall. “She had a beautiful walk even as a baby. She just had the package that we look for.” The Fasig-Tipton grounds | Fasig-Tipton Of her pinhooking career, Beamish said, “In different scenarios, I've been doing it for at least 30 years. It started long ago, just being a rider myself, not on racehorses, but being around the horses and going to the races. Then going to farms and watching breeding. It just sucked me in. I have done some 2-year-olds in training [sales], but I mostly try to stay with the babies to yearlings.” The partners had five additional yearlings sell Tuesday. Among that group were: a colt by Munnings (hip 110), purchased for $125,000 at Keeneland November, selling for $190,000 to Arroyo Bloodstock, agent for FTF Racing; a filly by Volatile (hip 143), purchased for $57,000 at Keeneland November, selling for $160,000 to Osiris Racing Stables; and a filly by Corniche (hip 168), purchased for $35,000 at Fasig-Tipton November, selling for $72,000 to Doble Jak Inv. Rounding out the group, hip 250, a son of Liam's Map who had been purchased for $90,000 at Keeneland November, sold for $175,000 to Rengifo's Golden Rock LLC. The post $1.7-Million Romeo Leads Record-Setting F-T July HORA Sale; Yearling Demand Stays Steady appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Speaking with horsemen July 8, Del Mar officials laid out the plans in the event Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or any other law enforcement entity attempt to "raid" the premises.View the full article

get pissed and ride the Bonecrusher statue?

5. Subito, SAR, 7/4, 6 1/2 furlongs (2nd) (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 85 (c, 3, by Speightstown–Uno Duo, by Macho Uno) O/B-Juddmonte (Ky). T-Bill Mott. J-Jose Lezcano. Solid career debut: fought from start to finish inside stablemate Fort Nelson, but stayed on his left lead through the stretch and came up just short in a 32-1 Bill Mott exacta. He's a half-brother to Juddmonte's Grade I winner Obligatory, an earner of $1.38 million also trained by Mott. 4. Fort Nelson, SAR, 7/4, 6 1/2 furlongs (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 86 (c, 3, by Bernardini–Seventh Street, by Street Cry (IRE)) O/B-Godolphin (Ky). T-Bill Mott. J-Junior Alvarado. In the 10 editions of Five Fastest Maidens, Mott has placed 11 horses in the rankings–more than double that of any other trainer–including three this week. This was Fort Nelson's second career start off a nine-month break. Godolphin's two-time Grade I winner Seventh Street and Grade II winner Lake Avenue are his dam and half-sister, respectively. Fort Nelson on the outside of Subito | Sarah Andrew 3. Ewing, SAR, 7/5, 5 1/2 furlongs (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 88, 'TDN Rising Star' (c, 2, by Knicks Go–Sassy Ali Joy, by Indian Charlie) O-D J Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds and Kenneth Frierich. B-John Gardiner (Ky). T-Mark Casse. J-Jose Ortiz. The jury is obviously out on the quality of competition he faced, but a 12-length romp in a Saratoga 2-year-old maiden special weight is always a head turner. His name will draw attention, too. The son of Knicks Go is named in honor of NBA great Patrick Ewing, who played 15 seasons for the New York Knicks (never mind that the South Korean owners of Knicks Go intended his name to be pronounced “Kay-Nicks”….this is America). 2. Fast Town, ELP, 7/6, 6 1/2 furlongs Beyer Speed Figure- 88 (c, 3, by Speightstown–Fast Scene, by Fast Anna) O-WinStar Farm, CHC and Lindy Farms. B-WinStar Farm (Ky). T-Rodolphe Brisset. J-Luan Machado. Ellis Park elbowed into the Beyer action with this quick maiden sprint on its opening weekend. Fast Town showed talent in his 3rd-place debut at Churchill Downs last month, and kicked it up a notch here, running 1.01 seconds faster than veteran older $25,000 claimers two races earlier. 1. Practical Lov, SAR, 7/5, 6 1/2 furlongs (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 88 (f, 3, by Practical Joke–Lovisa, by Speightstown) O-James Preziosi and Debbie Crisp. B-Springhouse Farm & SugarMill (Ky). T-Bill Mott. J-Junior Alvarado. Mott Number Three finally got another fast-track sprint, and narrowly earned the top spot this week by stalking first-timer Gin's Beach Road and then assertively drawing away in the final quarter to a convincing three-length triumph. Three maidens recorded 88 Beyer Speed Figures, but rather than listing them in the rankings as tied, we separated them by fractions of Beyer points. This can be a game of inches.   The post The Five Fastest Maidens, Presented by Taylor Made, for the Week of June 30-July 7 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article